Hello, so far I have found, the Regal Prince is getting wider, its filling in denser and its trunk is really thicking up more than the Scarlet. Fall colors are good on the Regal, but I would have to say compared to the Scarlet, hands down great color to the Scarlet. On the Scarlet, it has definitely shown its quicker growth rate abilities, and is stretching upwards at an alarming rate! The Scarlet is staying much more columnar and more open than the Regal Prince. However, the Scarlet is a younger tree than the Regal Prince is, so once it catches up to the Regal Prince, who k he ows all what could change.The trunk of the Scarlet oak is thickening up, but at a much slower rate than the Regal Prince for sure. I'm thinking the Regal Prince is gonna be a bigg'in for sure. Hope this helped, cheers.

Garden centres in the UK are already looking like plant supermarkets unfortunately. One has to go to specialist nurseries to find anything different, and they are disappearing too. The garden centre a mile away from my house is the largest in the UK, and cost seven million pounds to build. Same lines get sold every season, never anything different. It is a plant supermarket. My point about the variation in plants is this: you may well carry 32 varieties, but if they all end up being TC plants, there will be very little, or no variation within those individual groups. If H.x hybridus does end up being mass produced through tissue culture, those doing it will soon learn what sells and what doesn't. The range available will shrink. I like to have a choice as a consumer. What one person overlooks, I might want. I don't want a narrow selection of plants with flowers that are, for example, white, dark violet, yellow, and pink. And then the same again with spots. I want to be able to search through dozens of plants, looking for something that I think is special. I'm not anti plant patenting. I just don't think it is helpful to anybody in particular. I suppose it gives whoever developed or discovered a plant which they believe to be especially gardenworthy, a false peace of mind. Take 'Pink Marble' as an example - If I have 1000 lividus here, there is a very good chance that a number of those plants would look just like 'Pink Marble'. Obviously that patent doesn't stop me selling those plants. All it does is stop me using that particular name. On a small scale, it doesn't even stop me doing that. Who is there to police it? Calling a plant Helleborus 'Pink Marble' is just bad nomenclature. At the very least it should be H. lividus 'Pink Marble', and I don't like that, either. There is a very good reason why names shouldn't be given to selections of the species, and that is because they, in most cases (probably all), haven't been propagated by divison, and if that is the case, they are no more than 'strains'. Potter's Wheel is a classic point. The name was given to a single plant originally. But yet we still have thousands of plants in the trade all around the globe carrying the name. Is this right? None of them are divisions of the original. They probably don't even descend from the original. I can go into most colonies of niger I know of in Croatia and Slovenia, and find a few plants which fit the description of 'Potter's Wheel'. Does this mean that these plants are Potter's Wheel? Not to me it doesn't. They are simply niger with large flowers. And yet if I collected those plants and stuck a 'Potter's Wheel' label in them, nobody would know any different. I don't know about in the US, but here in the UK, nearly all niger with a 'Potter's Wheel' label do not have flowers which are any larger than can be found regularly in the wild. So to answer you question, in the case of Potter's Wheel, no I don't recognise the distinction between that and the straight species because there isn't really any. As for Wester Flisk, Gold Bullion and Silver Lace, yes, I do appreciate that using these names does allow us to be able to have conversations about the plants and all know what the other person is talking about, but the names (leaving aside Wester Flisk) were not given for that reason. They were given to appeal to the buyer. It looks like we are destined to disagree on most points, but it's an interesting debate nonetheless.

Your tree is getting some width growth compared to the last pic. The subject of fall color above has me wanting to mention that I have added a Nyssa Sylvatica to my yard, Black Gum or Tupelo tree. They get great fall color or so I've read. I bought 3 by accident. I have 1 in the ground,1 in a pot and 1 is in a raised bed, and I am going to TRY Bonsai with it. I will transplant the potted one this fall. I am not sure where it will go yet. My yard is getting very crowded, I wish I could give it to somebody. I meant to buy only 1 of them. That Regal Prince will get how wide in maturity? About 15 feet? I forget, sorry. My oaks are doing fine, a few have had Japanese Beetles really eat alot of leaves. Like my Q. Velutina. It has had some issues with what LOOKS like "Butt rot" or a fungus type thing at the trunk bottom. I've been using a fungicide on it, and it seems to have healed the original scar. That is the only REALLY decimated tree (Japanese Beetle infestation) in my yard, and, I am guessing because of the Fungus problem making it weaker than all the other trees in my yard. The rest just had some leaves eaten that didn't harm tree. I need to do an update about that tree (the Q. Velutina) on GW BUT, I can't post pics anymore. I had posted and taken a pic or 2 showing the tree wound. I want to do an update, but, I can't. My computer didn't recognize the disk when I put it in my computer. Anyway, enjoy the rest of summer Dmac, I am waiting for Fall, and it's cooler temps, I can't take this 90"s F crap having. Later.

Helen Turface has about 52% water holding capacity. That may be highest of substrates mentioned. So getting 100% could be difficult. You are correct that many substrates hold water internally and release it slowly, but you are looking for 100% water holding capacity - I am not sure what would you have to use...maybe ewwmayo can calculate it (SORRY Kevin!). He did sample of WHC of different substrates and even few different mixesin this thread but nothing is 100% water retaining - we are trying to get much less than that. Here is sample chart: Bugs are not exclusive to use of soil. Many ppl get mealy bugs and others even if using gritty mix. OTH, many ppl use mix of 50/50 C&S soil and perlite and I don't think they have more bugs on average. I use very gritty mix, but do not live in such hot climate. So it would be wise to listen to ppl that do, like Kara. Al's water retaining mix is still not 100% water retaining. His suggestions are for ppl that are in hot climate, but plants still need watering except not daily. I am not sure if Kara mentioned somewhere how often she waters succulents in her mix. Shade cloth is definitely big help, just tie it so that there is still good air circulation - but I am sure you know that. There are also timers you maybe can set up (?) that would water your plants whenever you set them to: daily or 1x/week and anything in-between.